Technical old school gauges installation

found them in @Moriarity's thread on the car

that thing is a LOT chunkier than i expected it to be. looks simple enough, ground to ground, power to power, negative to ground, and positive to tach

 

cant find an oil and volt gauge combo, the only ones i see are amp and oil.

might get the amp/oil and leave the amp unhooked for now, as the indirect lighting stewart warner volt gauges are kinda pricey.

 

just my luck... the moment i posted that a gauge got listed at an affordable price.

so i have my gauge set. my wallet is crying tho

 

I have no idea what this brand is but I bought them at a swap meet and put them in my t-bucket almost 20 yrs ago, they have the slots on back for the illumination, no issues with the amp guage and an alternator.
The illumination really sucks though, I try to look at them while driving under a street light, because you can't read them they're so dim.

 

I have three gauges under my dash. One has the light right in the back of the gauge and it is easy to see at night. The other two are side lit and they were putting more light on the floor than in the gauges. I made a shield out of thin cardboard, and it helped a lot.

 

im just hoping my 57 makes sufficient oil pressure. been too scared to check. imagine it only makes 15 psi at 3500 rpm... scary thought

 

you might be surprised how little oil pressure an engine needs, to keep running. Model Ts had no oil pressure at all, and there are plenty still going after 100+ years.

 

I'll let you borrow some of mine, if you look where my guage reads lol

 

the tach transmitter arrived, absolutely junk inside, so much corrosion, definitely glad im gonna swap in the tach match.

tach will fit perfectly where squirrel suggested

 

got the tach and gauges installed and the tach box gutted. now just need to make them work...

whacha think for tach box placement?

drivers side fender or upper firewall?

 

Fenderwell. Firewall is right above the exhaust. It will get warm. Also looks like it will partially block Dist. access. No need to made a classic as hard to work on as a modern POS.

 

fair enough, seen lots of them on the firewall and saw only two good places.

fender it is. now its a waiting game for the tach match.

what size oil feed line would i need? also how would i flare it because iirc my set only goes down to 3/16

 

Anyone used high pressure grease gun hose for Oil pressure gage? thought about maybe 2 or three 18" sections with connectors to join them, or a 48" milton from amazon (doubt I will need more that 48") presently have copper to plastic to an old sun blue line mounted on cup on column in 56 f100

as mentioned above, have to offset it to left or right and a bit low. have tach on left side and sun blue line OP on right, steering wheel still gets in way a bit

will look into the tach thing mentioned , was going to send my sun out for retrofit... but this may be a better option for this 6k and messed up transmitter... I 'cheeped' out with a retro look bosch 8k and it has worked.

 

Hey, I was just first to respond. Wait a bit. Someone will say to run the shortest wires, so firewall!

Oil lines normally use a ferule to clamp.
Example
https://www.autozone.com/gauges-and...are/p/equus-gauge-copper-tubing-kit/39190_0_0

 

the plastic and copper for oil pressure typically 1/8" tubing and have compression fittings, not flare

 

you can see how i mounted it here, i dont have the lighting for it done yet, will soon though.

so far i only have like 200 in this whole project, fortunately wiring is cheap as i have crimps and wire, and my dad has copper line somewhere, need to pick up the fittings.

other than lighting my floor up a tad too much, this is great!

very bright

 

i think im gonna tack on a little piece of black cardboard similar to my glovebox onto the back of the gauges.

going to also install a fuse for my tach matches power feed.

need to pick up some gasket material to cut out for the tach transmitter box, the gasket crumbled to bits.

heres hoping all goes smoothly on the tachmatch install and oil pressure gauge install.
just waiting on the voltmeter. probably going to run the wiring for it but not hook it up.

 

If it's holding the electronic box, it should be okay to just seal it with a cereal box gasket.

 

2/3 dome

 

This is the best way to go for an oil pressure gauge. With plastic line you risk hot oil on your feet or leg.

 

When I found that link, it of course mentions that copper line work hardens, and shouldn't be used. It's strange that there isn't a kit for this that uses nicomp tube. I wonder if it's due to it not being soft enough to form a seal or no demand.

 

I have used copper line for oil pressure gauges for over 50 years, never had a leak. But I always put a few loops of line to spread out and absorb movement on the engine side of the firewall.

 

Same here, @BJR , Never had one give me trouble either. Just wanted to mention it so that it's covered and maybe there is a new solution someone knows about.

 

Little trick I did on my Stewart Warner temp gauge that has only light windows in my panel truck. Single LED with a sticky back and some aluminum tape. Use 1 or 2 LEDs above the windows stuck to the gauge panel and the aluminum tape to cover the back area between the gauge and housing so no light shines on the floor or into the dash.

 

update the voltage gauge arrived... and its blue lit.

@Moriarity how would i change that? the gauge doesnt seem to come apart

 

i made the mistake of touching it... oops ripped right through one at the smallest touch. i barely brushed it.

 

its a very old gauge.
it doesnt fit in the bracket i have. it also has a "notch" at the bottom